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yume_to_amePairing: It's going to be a Jun-pairing, but I don't want to spoil it yet. It's either: Sakumoto, Matsumiya or Juntoshi. Jun/Aiba as brothers, and Aiba might get his own pairing.
Rating: up to R
Genre: royality!AU, romance, a bit fantasy,
Plot: To seal the new peace agreement Prince Jun is handed over as a gift to the neighbouring kingdom, the Highlands of Ice. There is a legend surrounding Jun and his sisters and brothers, namely that they hold a secret power which will only be awakened to the fullest when their owner falls in love.
Tired of reigning the Highlands of the Ice the king announces that one of his three sons - Sho, Satoshi and Kazunari - will inherit the throne. As all of them are good men, loyal and talented, he decides to put a challenge to it: Whoever wins the young mysterious prince's heart will marry him and get the throne.*
*Important sidenote: I will not make a love triangle or anything alike. Once Jun decided, he decided. Also Sho and the others won't play dirty.
Note: This is going to be really romantic, I promise :D and I promise you all (!) that the brothers won't treat each other like sh*t. It's super fun to write this! Please tell me what you think <3
Jun dreams of green meadows and flower gardens, of colourful birds flying through the sky, of wide and white beaches, sand dunes, exotic trees and fruits and the ocean.
“Do you want us to stop?” Satoshi asks him. “You seem to be far away with your mind.”
Jun blushes furiously at this remark. He has completely forgotten where he is and what he is doing. It happens quite often to him that he escapes via his thoughts. He lowers his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Satoshi says calmly. “It’s not easy for you right now, so don’t pressure yourself. You just shouldn’t doze off all the time, you might miss too much of your present if you do so.”
It’s weird that this comes from Satoshi out of all. Most of the time it’s just really hard to tell if he listens or not. “What about you?” Jun asks in return, before he realizes what he just said. He blushes a bit, scared that Satoshi might be angry, but to his surprise Satoshi just chuckles.
He pokes Jun’s forehead. “I know when I can doze off and when I need to listen. Besides…” he smiles. “Sometimes it’s just the look on my face. People think I’m not there with them, while I actually am.”
“Sorry,” Jun mutters.
“You are apologizing too much,” Satoshi says earnestly. “If it really bothers you so much than try not to do it again.” Anyone else might have sounded angry or annoyed, and Jun might have been upset, but with the calm way Satoshi phrases his words and still brings his point across, Jun can’t feel hurt. Instead he immediately takes his advice to heart and nods.
“I’ll try,” he promises.
Satoshi closes the book in front of them. He and Sho have met regularly with Jun to teach him whatever he wants to learn, and Jun appreciates it so much that they do this for him, although he guesses that their motives might be more than just teaching him. It didn’t slip his attention that they might be courting him, just, to his surprise none of them crosses a certain line, there are no touches, no pressure, nothing. They just show him their respect and spend time with him. It’s almost like they want him to feel well here and like this place.
“What were you thinking about?” Satoshi asks all of a sudden. “Something bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“It’s okay,” Jun answers warily.
Satoshi looks at him through questioning eyes. “Are you homesick?” he asks all of a sudden, making Jun grow pale. Satoshi smiles reassuringly. “It’s nothing bad or unusual to be homesick, Jun-san. I guess in comparison to your home this place has to seem rustic and cold and edgy and not really alluring. But it’s not as bad as you imagine it to be.”
Jun doesn’t know why it is, maybe because Satoshi was so easily reading his mind or because he just said the right words, but something in his eyes prickles. Satoshi seems to realize it too because he swiftly changes the topic. “Is there something you want to do?”
Jun looks up in surprise. “To do?”
“Something you want to try out?” Satoshi smiles. “You are practising regularly with Sho, and I know Kazunari has shown you around in town, but is there something else?”
Jun shakes his head.
Satoshi smiles. “Yes there is.” He pokes Jun’s upper arm teasingly until Jun can’t help but chuckle. To be honest he feels a bit scared of Satoshi’s observing eyes – he wonders what he sees and thinks, and it’s hard to tell what he feels. He is a bit intimidating, even more so than Sho. Maybe because he is less upfront. Sho is really straight-forward most of the time, Satoshi rather watches, and it’s a bit hard for Jun to tell if he even somehow of likes him. “Tell me, please.”
“I’ve seen your stables with the beautiful horses, and I’ve never gone horse riding,” Jun admits much to his own surprise. “But it doesn’t mean that we need to do this. Or anything alike. It’s just… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“You are saying sorry again,” Satoshi stops him, his voice serious. “There is nothing to apologize about. If you say sorry for no reason again, I’m going to punish you.”
Jun looks up in surprise and worry, but when he sees Satoshi smirking teasingly at him, he can’t help a careful smile. He doesn’t know why but he always feels a bit shy around him, maybe because he always looks so serious and is older than he is, but obviously he is a very kind person.
“Can we continue?” Jun asks carefully.
“Do you really want to?” Satoshi asks in return. “We don’t have to if you don’t feel like it.”
“I do feel like it now,” Jun says. “I won’t doze off again, I promise.”
Satoshi nods in approval. “Well, then let’s continue.”
~~~
Jun is about to go to his room and sleep when he feels a warm hand wrapping around his wrist. “Jun-san,” Kazunari smirks. “You’ve done nothing but study and train the last days. How about you do something fun now?”
“Something fun?” Jun asks curiously, something about the way Kazunari’s eyes glint immediately pulls him in. It’s weird, but the way Kazunari looks mischievous sometimes interests Jun deeply. He reminds him a bit of his favourite brother Masaki, but at the same time Kazunari seems to be a lot more sneaky and teasing, which is kind of… interesting. It’s something Jun always wanted to be. In a way he envies Kazunari for it, but not in a bad way. It rather draws him to him.
“Yes,” Kazunari chuckles. “Dress up a bit, I’ll pick you up in half an hour.”
“What should I wear?” Jun asks carefully.
“Nothing too fancy. Your black pants, and you have this wine-red tunic, don’t you?” Jun nods, and Kazunari smiles. “It’s perfect.”
Jun does as Kazunari has told him. Actually while he puts on his clothes, he figures that his whole life he has been doing what others tell him, but then… it would be really impolite to decline Kazunari’s offer, and to be honest, he is kind of curious. Kazunari has a way to awake his interest and curiosity.
Just like the other promised him he picks him half an hour later. To Jun’s surprise they go to the town which he by now has seen several times. This time however Kazunari leads him towards a bigger building with a guard outside that bows towards him and eyes Jun curiously.
“Where are we?” Jun stutters.
“This is a party,” Kazunari smiles. “I’m sorry for dragging you to this place, but I thought you might need and want some fun. Don’t worry.” He looks at Jun encouragingly. “No one is going to treat you badly.”
“Prince Kazunari!” Some guys and girls cheer towards Kazunari, who smiles in return.
Jun feels his stomach clench nervously, and his hands get sweaty as Kazunari pulls him towards the group of people. They bow politely, but nevertheless they seem to act pretty casual around Kazunari. He points at Jun now. “This is my friend and our guest, Prince Jun.”
The eyes of the little group light up in interest. “We’ve heard from you!” a brown-haired guy exclaims excitedly. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Ikuta Toma, my father owns the factory down the street. I’m his heir.”
Jun nods shyly and bows.
Kazunari gladly has mercy with him and introduces the others himself. “This is Mao-san, a young countess, and one of our childhood friends. Oguri Shun, whose father was the administrator of the northern towns before he sadly passed away, and Mizuhara Kiko, a distant cousin of us. She actually lives in the south, her father is a high general. Now she is in town to study.”
Jun listens in awe, surprised by how many friends Kazunari and also the other two seem to have. He himself never had the chance to actually have friends. It’s just Masaki and Yamaguchi for him, and in some way Sakamoto, but all three of them are rather brothers for him than normal usual friends. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says politely, trying not to sound too wary.
“You are cute,” Kiko chuckles. “If you are so cute, Kazu-chan will eat you.” Jun is taken aback for a moment, but when he sees how Kiko grins and Kazunari starts to tease her right back, he relaxes. A careful smile spreads on his lips. They all seem to be so casual and relaxed.
Soon a bunch of curious questions starts raining down on him. How he feels. How he likes it here. If he enjoys it. How his country looks like. If it’s true that his bloodline has some super magic powers. And alike. Jun has never had friends or even a normal talk with people aside from Yamaguchi and Sakamoto-san, and Masaki of course, so the open and casual way they treat him – although they even heard rumours about him – surprises him. He realizes that also the other guests at the gathering greet him politely and look at him in open interest, without fear or any despise. He can’t believe it… but he actually has a good time.
He has always believed that the people living here would be cold-hearted and rough as stone, but to his surprise they are rather direct and curious, and pretty open. Some even bring him drinks and something to eat, so that they can get into a talk with him, and Kazunari sometimes teases them for being too obvious.
“One step too far, and I’m going to punch you,” he even threatens some particular curious guys. It sounds like a joke, but there is a hint of warning in his voice, which the others seem to understand immediately. Jun feels touched by Kazunari watching out for him like that, his chest feeling warm by the way he protects him.
Suddenly Jun is having fun, he enjoys talking with the people and Kazunari’s friends, the food, the wine, everything. When he and Kazunari go home together later, Kazunari looks at him through honest and serious eyes. “I’m sorry for dragging you to this place without telling you what it is about,” he says. “But I wanted you to enjoy your time and not freak out beforehand.”
Jun smiles. “I had a good time. No need to apologize.”
“They are good people, Jun-san.” Kazunari returns his smile. “If you’d give us and them a chance, you’ll see for yourself.”
Jun nods carefully. “I’ll try.”
“So,” Kazunari grins. “What do you think? Ready for more fun?”
“More fun?” Jun asks curiously, slowly feeling how Kazuniai’s mischief is taking over him too. It seems to be contagious.
Kazunari chuckles and signals him to follow him. They first go the kitchen of the castle where Kazunari organises some hot sweet wine for them. Then he leads them outside to the huge garden of the castle. It’s snowing and it’s cold, but Jun doesn’t mind. His thick jacket and the wine keep him warm, and he feels like a little kid when Kazunari invites him to build a snowman together.
Once they are finished Kazunari sticks two little branches onto the snowman’s face – acting as the eyebrows obvriously – making it look like it is frowning. “This is Sho when he gets angry,” Kazunari jokes, tilting his head before he grins. “And also Satoshi when he realizes we are still outside in the cold.” He makes the eyebrows rounder. “And this is me when I’m plotting something.”
Jun laughs all of a sudden. “You are so silly,” he chuckles.
Kazunari smiles at him and joins his laughter.
~~~
The last day with Kazunari and Satoshi was nice, and kept him distracted. The more shocked Jun is himself when his gloomy feelings suddenly come crushing down on him two days later. He didn’t sleep well that night, hunted by nightmares and doubts, and fears for his future.
“My little prince,” Yamaguchi says when he sits down next to Jun on his bed the next day. Jun has curled up there, eyeing his pillow tiredly and sadly. “Jun-san,” he says softly and shakes his shoulder. “You need to get up at one point. You have been lying here the whole day already.”
Jun shakes his head and turns away from Yamaguchi, cuddling into his blanket. He knows it’s childish and he can’t hide here forever. He is a grown-up and he needs to face this like an adult. He can’t go back home, there is no way he can, and he has to learn to like this country although he hates being here. He knows it’s not this country’s or King Koichi’s fault, but still… he wishes he could be at home with his brother Masaki. He misses him so much. And he wishes he could be in his well-known surroundings. But he can’t. Instead he was sold here, and only thanks to the king’s kindness he wasn’t treated as a slave.
“Fine,” Yamaguchi says softly, his hand touching Jun’s shoulder in an affectionate way. “I’ll tell them that you aren’t feeling well, alright? But tomorrow you have to get up, dear.”
He is glad when Yamaguchi leaves him alone. Not because he doesn’t like Yamaguchi, in fact he is actually more than relieved to have one known face constantly around him, but because he is relieved to have some time alone. He just wants to hide for a few hours and not face anything or anyone. He doesn’t even know what triggered his bad day. Two days ago he had his lesson with Satoshi, then he went out with Kazunari, and yesterday in the evening he met all three of them and they played chess, and Kazunari showed him some fun card games.
They are nice. Really nice. And although it might be to court him – because no matter what the king says, he for sure gave his sons a hint to try to go for Jun – they still seem to be kind-hearted people, and none of them tried something funny.
It’s just… he misses his home so badly.
The tears behind his eyelids burn and soon he starts crying silently. Before he realizes it himself he slowly starts to drift to sleep. In his half daze, again, he suddenly hears a light knock to the door and someone entering. The person says something but he can’t hear it. And then there is a soft hand stroking his hair carefully, and a voice humming comforting words. The hand is gone for a while and before Jun can feel at loss there is a blanket covering his body, and then the hand goes back to stroking his head. It’s okay, Jun, don’t be sad.
~~~
The next morning Jun feels a bit better. He woke up to some beautiful dried flowers on his bedside table, flowers he hasn’t seen before, a warm fire in the fireplace and a fluffy blanket covering him. He isn’t sure who it was at his side last night, probably the same person like on his first night here. Which means it can only be Yamaguchi. There is also a package with lavender scented bathing oil on his nightstand. How attentive.
He immediately takes it and hurries to his bath, happy that he got a separated one. The warm water and the oil really work miracles. His skin feels refreshed afterwards, and so does he. His eyes are still a bit red from crying, but after washing his face and using some oil for the dry skin, it looks better.
He is actually almost feeling good (except for the fact that he is still in this cold country). When he goes outside, he meets Yamaguchi there. His guard seems to be really relieved to see him. “Are you feeling better?” “
“Yes. Thank you, Yamaguchi-san,” Jun smiles. “Oh, and thank you for the bathing oil and the blanket and all.”
Yamaguchi blinks. “Bathing oil? Blanket? I’m sorry, young prince, I wasn’t in your chambers anymore yesterday. I thought you didn’t want any interruptions. When I checked on you in the middle of the night you were already asleep.”
Jun’s eyes widen. What? So it wasn’t Yamaguchi? He swallows. “On the first night we arrived, were you at my side at night?”
Yamaguchi shakes his head. “Did something happen?” he asks with sudden worry.
Jun shakes his head. “No, nothing. I just… someone just brought me a blanket. It was nice, and I wanted to thank this person.”
Yamaguchi seems to be content with this answer, Jun however tries not to blush at the realisation that someone else was there to comfort him. Someone cared so deeply about him to secretly bring him nice things to his room and to be there when he felt the most desperate. And the person didn’t even reveal himself, which shows his sincere motives. Just who was it?
~~~
“It’s good to see you are feeling better, Jun-san,” the king greets him, and embarrasses Jun by being so thoughtful and nice. He can’t help but wonder what kind of king he is. His own father is so different, so strict, and distanced, he would never have breakfast with his children, especially not with Jun, and treat them so kindly. He takes a wild guess that Koichi can get his point across, if he wants to, but when it’s not necessary, he is actually very friendly.
Jun bows politely. “I’m sorry, I was feeling unwell yesterday.”
“Are you better?” Sho asks with concern, while Kazunari already pushes ham and eggs into his direction.
“Yes, thank you,” Jun smiles carefully. He eyes the plates in front of him. Ham, eggs, more ham, some cheese, more ham, more cheese, different ham, more eggs, another kind of ham. He wonders if it would be very impolite to just eat a bit of bread.
Satoshi hands him a jar with jam all of a sudden. “We don’t know what you like, but one of our farmers recently brought us some jam. It’s out of mountain cranberry.”
“Jam?” Kazunari eyes the jar with no particular interest. “I didn’t know you have a sweet tooth, Sa-chan?”
Satoshi chuckles. “I don’t have, but I thought why not offering it to Jun-san.”
“Yes,” Sho agrees. “If you like sweet fruity things, Jun-san, I can highly recommend this.”
Jun eyes the jar in interest. Jam. He likes that. And it seems to be freshly made. “I would like to try it,” he says. “I didn’t know you have plants and berries here.”
The others laugh, the king included, only when Jun blushes slightly they realize he was serious. “Of course we have plants,” the king smiles brightly. “I wonder what kind of image you have of my country.”
“But there is so much snow, and cold,” Jun explains weakly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult anyone.”
“Sorry again,” Satoshi mumbles quietly, and throws Jun a secret teasing glance. Jun blushes at the secret teasing reprimand.
“You didn’t insult anyone,” Sho tells him with a warming smile. “It’s just logical you would be surprised, since you come from a tropical area. Are there many plants and flowers in your country?”
Jun nods, happy that Sho asks him about his country. “There is hardly any snow. Not even in winter. It’s pretty warm throughout the year. And we have lots of exotic fruits.”
“What do you like to eat?” Kazunari wants to know. “Or, what do people in your country eat traditionally?”
“Lots of fish,” Jun muses. “Fruits, vegetables.” It’s only when his gaze shifts to the table that he realizes he has basically excluded everything on the table. “But we eat meat and eggs too!”
Satoshi chuckles lightly over his tea.
“Well in comparison to your home we have less fruits and plants of course,” the king tells him with a smile. “But we do have them.”
“I have an idea,” Satoshi suddenly joins their talk. Except for his little unheard teasing he hasn’t joined the conversation up to now.
“An idea?” Kazunari asks curiously.
“How about we take Jun-san out. We could get the horses and go for a ride, and show him our country properly.”
Sho’s eyes widen. “This is a great idea, Satoshi. We could show him the seaside.”
“And the glacier,” Kazunari adds. “The Crystal Forest.”
“Go ice-fishing and drive with the sledge.” Satoshi adds. “Show him the farms and what kind of plants grow here naturally.”
“We could stay overnight in one of the neighbour towns,” Sho adds. “There is a festival going to take place soon and everything is particularly beautiful at the moment.” He looks at the king. “Only if you allow, father.”
“Actually I think this is a good idea.” The king nods contently, almost looking a bit too happy in Jun’s opinion. “Show Jun-san his new home properly.”
“Yes,” Kazunari grins. “I’m not even an outdoor person but this sounds like fun. It will be awesome, Jun-san.”
“We promise,” Sho adds. “So what do you say?”
Satoshi gives him an encouraging nod, and to his own surprise Jun suddenly finds himself agreeing to it.
The rest of the breakfast the brothers are in a particularly good mood, and Jun’s mood isn’t so bad either. He isn’t quite so sure if he really knows what he said yes to, but when they leave the table and Sho approaches him, a huge smile on his face, he knows he made them happy. At least that’s something. “We’ll make this great for you, I promise,” Sho says with emphasis and pats his shoulder.
Jun nods, blushing a bit. “Thank you for your offer. I really appreciate it.”
Kazunari chuckles, patting his shoulder as well while he passes him. “You won’t regret it,” he promises.
Again Jun nods, and hopes he will be right. When the other two have already left, it’s only him and Satoshi. “I’m sorry,” Satoshi says calmly.
Jun spins around, looking at him in surprise. “What for?” he asks stunned.
“I did push you into this trip. And I did it deliberately,” Satoshi explains honestly.
Jun shifts around nervously. “I… It’s still a kind offer though.”
“Just that you had no chance to say no,” Satoshi sighs and steps closer. “Jun-san,” he says earnestly. “I know that in comparison to your home this country seems like nothing, but at least give it a chance, will you?”
Jun suddenly feels warm in his chest by all of their kindness. “I will,” he says, and decides to live up to his promise. He wants to see the country for real, and understand the people here. He wants to give this land a real chance.
A/N: I'm so sorry for only updating now, and not last week. I was sooo busy. Yuki and I are in Tuscany right now though, and relaxing (well, and sight-seeing... a lot ^^)
I hope you like this update! Jun has a surprise-visitor at night again... And finally we have Nino stepping up his game. Seems like he can make Jun laugh. And Ohno has more spotlight too.
So, what do you think? Do you have any preferences concerning the brothers?
They will soon all go on a trip. Oh, and I promise, Aiba will appear soon!!
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Date: 2017-06-04 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-06-10 06:49 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for reading and commenting! <3
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Date: 2017-06-04 09:09 pm (UTC)Waiting for the trip, it's seems interesting
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Date: 2017-06-10 06:49 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for your lovely comment!! ♥
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Date: 2017-06-04 09:55 pm (UTC)Btw thank you for this update. Enjoy your days ^ - ^
We will waiting for next chapters
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Date: 2017-06-10 06:50 pm (UTC)Well, Masaki will soon appear.
And I promise I will reveal the secret visitor at one point ;-)
Thanks so much for your lovely comment!! ♥
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Date: 2017-06-05 02:09 am (UTC)I'm glad that the boys are really doing their best to
make Jun happy and at ease with their country...well
honestly, if i were Jun, no matter how beautiful and
perfect this new country is, he will always long for
his own country even though his father was not that nice
to him and he hardly had any friends there... although...
it's really ironic that jun's own country's weather was
nice but some of the people, like his father,are very
cold to him while the people in that new country are the
exact opposite of the country's extremely cold climate..
oh well,, it reminds me of the time when I stayed for one
week in Japan,,that country is my dream country, very clean, almost perfect and the complete opposite of my
own country but still I felt lonely when I slept alone in
the hotel and cried on the third day because i missed my
mother..LOLOLOLOL... hahahhahahah
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Date: 2017-06-05 02:12 am (UTC)visitor,,, it makes me hope that it's satoshi
hahahahaha and i can't wait for what's going to
happen to their planned trip... ^_^
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Date: 2017-06-10 06:52 pm (UTC)So, your preferred choice for Jun is Satoshi?
Thanks so much for your sweet comment!! *huggles*
♥
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Date: 2017-06-12 01:07 am (UTC)<3<3<3<3<3
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Date: 2017-06-05 11:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-06-10 06:53 pm (UTC)It might take me a while to reveal the secret visitor, but it will happen at one point ^^
Thank so much for your lovely comment! ♥
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Date: 2017-06-12 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-06-05 01:14 pm (UTC)This trip of theirs sounds like fun. I hope that it makes Jun feel less sad.
Tuscany sounds lovely. Have fun. *hugs*
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Date: 2017-06-10 06:54 pm (UTC)He might step up his game a bit in the next chapter ;-) Though, his brother might be doing the same.
Thanks so much for your support, my friend! <3
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Date: 2017-06-06 09:17 am (UTC)Loved this chapter! Can't wait for the next one :D
Thanks for the update! ^^ Have fun in Tuscany!!!
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Date: 2017-06-10 06:55 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for reading and commenting, my friend! *huggles*
(oh, and Tuscany was lovely ♥)
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Date: 2017-06-12 05:40 pm (UTC)I wonder who the visitor is? But I think I have a slight idea...I just won't tell you ;)
Thanks for the update ❤
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Date: 2017-06-17 12:25 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for reading, dear <3
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Date: 2017-07-02 01:44 pm (UTC)And who is this super caring guy? He is just so romantic!! Coming all and giving him all nice things!!! What a romantic situation!
By the way I like King Koichi. He is so fatherly and so good as king. I am happy that Prince Jun didn't have to go through more after his cold house.
This story is so lovely! Its a love story that can melt the winter!! Thank you for writing it!!
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Date: 2017-07-05 06:50 pm (UTC)I'm happy you like all three princes! At this point of the story I had no idea myself who Jun will end up with :-)
Thanks so much for your lovely comment! ♥
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Date: 2017-09-06 05:17 am (UTC)can you take me as your bride *slapped
thanks for this chapter as well, i have not much to say, but i will continue to the next one
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Date: 2017-09-06 01:59 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for reading and commenting! ♥
(and for catching up with this story <3)